DSS Apologises, Returns Seized Passport to Journalist Adejuwon Soyinka

By Trek Africa Newspaper

The Department of State Services (DSS) has returned the passport of award-winning investigative journalist Adejuwon Soyinka, days after it was seized during his detention at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos.

Soyinka, the West Africa Regional Editor at The Conversation Africa, received his passport back on Friday. He was accompanied to the DSS office in Ikoyi by human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong.

Trek Africa Newspaper recalls that Soyinka was arrested by DSS operatives on Sunday at the airport and held for about eight hours, during which he was interrogated at both the DSS Airport Command and the agency’s Ikoyi office. Although he was released later that day, his passport was retained by the DSS.

Following his release, Soyinka reported that no specific charges were made against him, and he later discovered his name had been placed on a watchlist by an unnamed government agency.

The DSS has since suggested that the incident may have been a case of mistaken identity.

Effiong, who accompanied Soyinka to retrieve his passport, confirmed that the DSS operatives apologized for the incident and returned the passport without further complications.

Effiong remarked, “I went with Soyinka to retrieve his passport today. The secret police’s decision to attribute the incident to possible mistaken identity did not surprise me.”